The U.S. court has ordered the peer-to-peer file-sharing system Kazaa to refrain from illegally distributing music and videos from famous artists, including Kylie Minogue, Eminem, and Madonna.
Judge Murray Wilcox has mandated that Sharman Networks, the owner of Kazaa, modify its P2P software to block a list of search keywords, primarily focusing on artist names and song titles. This ruling follows the victory of record labels in September against individuals and organizations associated with Kazaa.
The court has ordered that a new version of the system be launched by December 5, which must include a keyword filter to prevent users from accessing and downloading pirated files.
Record labels will also be able to update the keyword list every two weeks. Sharman will be required to modify the software within 48 hours of receiving the updated list.
The initial list of keywords reaches up to 10,000, and Tony Bannon, attorney for the recording companies, believes that the figure of 3,000 is a significant “shortfall.”
P.T.
